Could the Swiss be medal contenders in 2018?

What will the 2014 SUI team look like? Presumably on the NHL side they'll use their five defenders (Streit/Sbisa/Weber/Josi/Diaz) with Hiller in net and Nino / Bartschi on forward positions. Does any other prospect have a shot at joining?

I could see Tanner Richard getting a shot especially as we are very short of Centers. On defense there is no room I guess, especially as there are good defenders in the Swiss league also with plenty of international experience (Du Bois, Von Gunten, Blindenbacher, etc.).
Joel Vermin and Luca Cunti are young prospects who could get a shot for 2014.

we haven't seen a lot of anything, there has only been 4 OG with NHLers. btw the US has made it to the finals more than any team from Europe.

On the contrary, I could say that Canada could venture close to the winning "easily". But stating that Finland (!) and USA (with all its "finals", mostly 2nd places) can do it "easily" is plain and simply not correct taken what we know. If we don't take what we know into the equation, then I am all for Singapore.

Switzerland was one game out of a Gold or Bronze medal game in the last two Olympics games. In 2006 they were very impressive before their loss to Sweden (finished 2-2-2) and then last time, they weren't as impressive, but they only lost 2-0 to USA in the QFs.

Every one of the Top-8 teams are medal contenders as far as I'm concerned.

Don't put too much weight on preliminary round games. The Belarus win was a complete fluke, if I recall they were out shot 47-19 by Sweden, then Canada and Russia beat them 7-1 and 7-2. Belarus had 1 win and 5 losses in the tournament. To say they were in contention for a medal is really distorting the truth.

On the contrary, I could say that Canada could venture close to the winning "easily". But stating that Finland (!) and USA (with all its "finals", mostly 2nd places) can do it "easily" is plain and simply not correct taken what we know. If we don't take what we know into the equation, then I am all for Singapore.

Your english is much better than min svenska, men du förstår inte. To say that someone could easily win and that someone would win easily is not exactly the same thing. I'd say this one was lost in translation.

They aren't contenders for a medal, but they're good enough to score a few goals against the top powerhouses. If they got a hot goalie anything can happne because they could upset a contender in a low scoring game. They will not outplay Canada, Russia, or Sweden though.

Only way this happens is if guys like Baertschi and Andrighetto turn into serious NHL all-stars. If they get a top line of like Niederreiter-Andrighetto-Baertschi, all of which are top six or top line players in the NHL, they could get far playing their great team game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smitty10

I can't see them being ahead of Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland or Czech Republic. Maybe Slovakia, but the rest no.

On paper, no. I can definitely see them surprising a few of those teams. If they get the right match-up, they can play their way into a bronze medal game in my opinion.

The one thing about the Swiss...you never really see them crap the bed. If they lose, it is because they have a weaker team. But more often they are competing with teams that are better than them (on paper at least). They seem to rise to the occasion as much as any in the top ten.

I have always been a fan of how they play the game. There is generally no quit in any Swiss player, ever.

I don't think so. But then again I dont see Finland, Slovakia or Czech as contenders either. They could be a dark horse though.

Exactly this

... Switzerland belongs to this group with lower probabilities than the others.
These probabilities have been changing over the course of the past 10 years, with assets of Switzerland being amazing goal-tending and game plan evolving to a global improvement of players with less good goalies and a more difficult game plan since players come from the whole planet !! (before all used to play in Switzerland ... same game style = team was more homogeneous = easier to coach = better game plan)

I think Switzerland poised to take a big leap in world hockey circles over the next couple years, don't know if they contend for medals but I can see them being a thorn in the sides of the bigger hockey nations.

That's the order in my opinion. Maybe we can pass Slovakia, but the Top 6 is too far away. If we have a good day, we can upset one of the top 6 (and get into the SF), but we can't be constantly better than one of these 6 nations.

I see it more like this atm and for the past few years. Many overrate Russians and underrate USA. Russians are way more dominant force in the men's hockey than in U-20. Finland has been better than CZE in the near history also, not by much but it's always a disappointment if Finland doesn't beat CZE in the u-20, unlike in the men's.

I think they're already medal contenders to some degree. They make the quarterfinals fairly consistently these days in Olympics, WCs, etc. And in Vancouver, they were a goal post away from tying the USA in the third period in their quarterfinal. If they manage to pull that game out, they probably would have little difficulty beating a Finnish team that pretty much slept in (in real life they went down 6-0 to the USA in the first period). Then it's Canada vs. Switzerland in the final. It actually isn't too far-fetched.